About
The surreal and far-ranging imagery that appears throughout the work of 3D artist William Willoughby III strikes the viewer with its balance of sophisticated conceptualizations of the future and imaginative, playful themes.
WilliamTheThird’s pull toward the visual arts began at age 4, starting with his love of sketching and fascination with the ability to create something from nothing. Even in high school, his personal commitment to art and the fulfillment creating brings him was evident, as he turned down his teacher’s offer to purchase a work of his for $500—a work he still owns today.
WilliamTheThird’s passion for visual arts and practice of sketching eventually developed into a mastery of digital art software like Photoshop, where he learned his characteristic photo manipulation techniques.
Today he’s pivoted to the world of 3D art, using Cinema 4D and Substance Designer to create the unmistakable blend of surrealism, futurism, crypto art, and digital landscapes he’s known for. It’s his passion for digital art that pushed him to develop hundreds of free PBR materials and textures he released for free on the cinema 4D asset library website he founded—C4DCenter.com—to enrich the digital art community.
After founding his own design company, William Willoughby Design Co., WilliamTheThird expanded his work even further, finding the perfect fit for his characteristic blend of futurism and surrealism in the world of crypto art. He currently sells work as NFTs on Makersplace, with sales ranging as high as several thousand dollars.
WilliamTheThird was featured in the Substance designer gallery on Behance twice in the same month during 2020 and won a Render Competition hosted by The Pixel Lab in the same year.
William Willoughby continues his art practice today from his home in South Florida.
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Artist Statement
I blend my own philosophy of life and personal interests into the surrealist, future-facing world that appears in my art. Creating 3D illustrations that encompass both the colorful and far-ranging parts of our world—from neon-colored future landscapes to astronauts and hovercars—is the manner in which I use my art to explore and express the way human life can embody an infinite number of experiences.
Merging futuristic style and traditional imagery like ancient statues and skulls creates a new language that can speak to the way our world evolves with a memory of the past and an eye to the future. Exploring both light and dark tones while using my own mood to guide the direction in which I take each piece results in the sometimes bright and energetic, other times dark and ominous settings in my work.
Just as I did when I first began creating art as a child, letting intuition and my own response to my experiences and the colors in front of me help me create art that is both in tune with the world and its changes around me and still deeply personal and unique.
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My Thoughts on Life
I believe that the human species is the universe in physical form exploring/experiencing every story from every perspective possible and that Earth is a filter for positive and negative energy. We are energy, energy cannot be destroyed but only transferred.
WilliamTheThird’s pull toward the visual arts began at age 4, starting with his love of sketching and fascination with the ability to create something from nothing. Even in high school, his personal commitment to art and the fulfillment creating brings him was evident, as he turned down his teacher’s offer to purchase a work of his for $500—a work he still owns today.
WilliamTheThird’s passion for visual arts and practice of sketching eventually developed into a mastery of digital art software like Photoshop, where he learned his characteristic photo manipulation techniques.
Today he’s pivoted to the world of 3D art, using Cinema 4D and Substance Designer to create the unmistakable blend of surrealism, futurism, crypto art, and digital landscapes he’s known for. It’s his passion for digital art that pushed him to develop hundreds of free PBR materials and textures he released for free on the cinema 4D asset library website he founded—C4DCenter.com—to enrich the digital art community.
After founding his own design company, William Willoughby Design Co., WilliamTheThird expanded his work even further, finding the perfect fit for his characteristic blend of futurism and surrealism in the world of crypto art. He currently sells work as NFTs on Makersplace, with sales ranging as high as several thousand dollars.
WilliamTheThird was featured in the Substance designer gallery on Behance twice in the same month during 2020 and won a Render Competition hosted by The Pixel Lab in the same year.
William Willoughby continues his art practice today from his home in South Florida.
- - -
Artist Statement
I blend my own philosophy of life and personal interests into the surrealist, future-facing world that appears in my art. Creating 3D illustrations that encompass both the colorful and far-ranging parts of our world—from neon-colored future landscapes to astronauts and hovercars—is the manner in which I use my art to explore and express the way human life can embody an infinite number of experiences.
Merging futuristic style and traditional imagery like ancient statues and skulls creates a new language that can speak to the way our world evolves with a memory of the past and an eye to the future. Exploring both light and dark tones while using my own mood to guide the direction in which I take each piece results in the sometimes bright and energetic, other times dark and ominous settings in my work.
Just as I did when I first began creating art as a child, letting intuition and my own response to my experiences and the colors in front of me help me create art that is both in tune with the world and its changes around me and still deeply personal and unique.
- - -
My Thoughts on Life
I believe that the human species is the universe in physical form exploring/experiencing every story from every perspective possible and that Earth is a filter for positive and negative energy. We are energy, energy cannot be destroyed but only transferred.